About the Author

James Clifford is Professor Emeritus in the History of
Consciousness Department at the University of California, Santa
Cruz.

Reviews

[An] interesting situation can occur, suggests cultural
anthropologist James Clifford, when the issue is not who should
have custody of the objects [in museums] but rather what they mean.
As he explores the subject in the essays collected in Routes, he
compels the reader to look at these matters in a totally new
way...As Clifford puts it, the museum [has] had to become 'a
contact zone,' in which the collection would 'become part of an
ongoing historical, political, moral relationship' between the
culture that produced the objects and the members of another
culture who would come to view them. The idea of a 'contact zone'
relationship becomes even more startling when the objects are not
in a museum, but are located at a cultural site...[G]uided by
Clifford's view of museums and cultural and historical sites, the
observant tourist will never be able to see them in the same way
again. -- Michael Kenney Boston Globe The path Clifford clears for
himself is amply justified; his scholarship is always careful, his
questions honest and probing, his use of the first person discreet.
One could not ask for a better informed, more intelligent or
probing advance guard. Routes is a beautifully produced book with
plentiful illustrations, an intelligent index, and almost no
misprints. -- Peter Hulme New Formations It is a measure of
Clifford's nonchalant erudition that Routes gives rise to so many
diverse ideas. -- Mark Abley Times Literary Supplement As his use
of essay form might suggest, Clifford tends to be a scout or
advance guard, a surveyor of terrain, a reporter of difficulties
ahead, a clearer of ground; not himself a colonist or
settler...Very much a cultural theorist for our times, Clifford's
emphasis is on conceptual repertory that can be used in ways
dialogic, contingent, and tactical...As Routes leaves us to think
through the questions posed in its pages, Clifford will already be
opening up new paths, formulating new terminologies, asking new
questions...Ultimately, however, the path Clifford clears for
himself is amply justified: his scholarship is always careful, his
questions honest and probing, his use of the first person discreet.
One could not ask for a better informed, more intelligent or
probing advance guard. Routes is a beautifully produced book with
plentiful illustrations [and] an intelligent index. -- Peter Hulme
New Formations: A Journal of Culture/Theory/Politics Whether
discussing immigrants, diasporas, or museums, Clifford looks at the
intercultural border as a place of encounter, collision, and
communication between groups. This is a scholarly yet accessible
work that asks us to rethink the cultural dimensions of human
existence. Booklist A noted anthropologist examines the
complexities of human interaction across cultures and continents in
a...revelatory collection of essays. 'How do groups negotiate
themselves in external relationships, and how is a culture also a
site of travel for others?' These are two of the broad questions
raised by Clifford in pursuit of his admonition that 'new
representational strategies are needed, and are, under pressure,
emerging.' Thus does Clifford discuss diasporic and migratory
peoples, unexplored Western influences on indigenous peoples, and
the effects of new communication technologies on the global
movement of people...[A] fresh and well-documented perspective on
human global movement. Kirkus Reviews

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